The pistol arrived within 5 business days and the ammo arrived the same day on a separate UPS truck.

The pistol was 'well oiled' to say the very least, but there was thankfully no trace of cosmoline anywhere. So a thorough cleaning was in order before a trip to the range.

It is an all steel pistol and weighs just a hair under 28 ounces unloaded. It's chambered for the 9X18 Makarov cartridge which is NOT interchangeable with 9MM Luger (Parabellum, or 9X19) ammunition. Use ONLY 9X18 Makarov ammo in this pistol.

The magazine release and the safety are both ambidextrious. The pistol functions in either single action or double action mode. One can safely carry it with a round chambered and the hammer down, with the safety in the "Off" position. Or it can be safely carried "cocked and locked" with the safety in the "On" position. The controls are a bit small, but they're well placed and I had no trouble operating them.

I'd say that this pistol is in 'good to very good' condition. The bore is clean and bright and the pistol shows some honest holster wear as evidenced by this image.

One can easily imagine this thing riding on the hip of a Czech Police Officer or Border Guard every day. Mechanically the pistol is sound. Field stripping it is a breeze. As that information is easily available on the web I won't go into it here.

I started out at 21 feet with a full magazine of the Russian hollow point ammo. I'd have to rate accuracy as pretty darned good for a surplus service pistol.

Here's a pretty typical groupt at 21 feet:

I take complete responsibility for the shots outside the 5X.

The single action trigger pull has some creep but it breaks cleanly. I'd guesstimate it at about 5 pounds or so. The double action pull is pretty long but it also breaks cleanly.

Here's a typical group at 30 feet:

A quick note on loading the magazines. Capacity is 12 rounds, but it's a cast iron b**** to get those last two in there. After 3 or 4 mags I opted to load 10 just to save wear on my thumb. I'm going to look around for a loading tool. Function wasn't affected in the least with 10 rounds instead of 12 in the mag.

Functionally in one hundred rounds I experienced NO failures to fire, NO failures to eject of any kind, and only 2 failures to feed and those were in the first 4 magazines. I discovered the source of that issue. The rounds MUST be seated well against the back of the magazine.

So a quick, sharp rap against the table to insure that the rounds are well seated in the magazine took care of the problem. I experienced no further failures to feed. Not too bad considering this pistol was designed for FMJ ammo.

The feed failures were quickly remedied by a quick rack of the slide and the pistol was back in action.

The 9X18 Russian Silver Bear 94 grain hollow point bullet leaves the barrel at between 935 and 1005 fps according to my chronograph. That's quite a spread but I'm chalking that up to Russian quality control more than anything. This is definetely NOT match grade ammo.

With these figures we're looking at between 180 to 200 ft/lbs of energy delivered. While definetely on the lower end of the scale it's acceptable for self defense work at close range with proper shot placement.

Bottom line? For about $400.00 US I got a good shooting solid little service pistol. This example will get a DuraKoat finish applied (thanks to Squantos for the tip), and ride in the Camelback I keep under the seat in my truck.

While I wouldn't feel as well armed as I would carrying a Colt or Springfield XD in .45, this pistol would certainly be 'good enough' in my view.

I'd recommend picking one or two of these nice little examples of Czech craftsmanship up if you have the opportunity.

That's surprising. You would think that the .380 popularity would drive down the production cost and subsequent price of the more boutique type of ammo. My .45 is costing me an arm & leg to go to the ranch. I'm looking for a more inexpensive alternative, but I don't really want to schlep all the way down to a 9mm.

"Power" wise I'd rate it as above the .380 but less than 9MM Luger, or roughly about the old .38 Spl round nose lead Police load.

Recoil on this piece is very manageable. I had no trouble with a quick follow up shot or two.

I do have to say that the sights are crude and would benefit from a drop of white paint on the front.

I've ordered a couple of thousand more rounds; 1K of FMJ and 1K of the Russian hollow points. I'm going to order two more of the pistols, too. One will go in Mrs. L's Camelback after a Durakoat treatment and the third will be used for parts should we ever need them.

Like I said, these things ain't Colts or Kimbers. But they ain't $900 a copy, either.

L

9
posted on 09/19/2009 4:45:32 PM PDT
by Lurker
(The avalanche has begun. The pebbles no longer have a vote.)

The two guns are similar in a number of ways. No doubt the Walther is much more finely finished and is of higher overall quality.

But the PPK is chambered for the weaker .380 cartridge (.32 is available but why bother), has a magazine capacity of only 8. The Walther also retails for over $500 new. You can buy two of these AND ammo for the price of one Walther.

Nothing against the Walthers, they're damn fine pistols. But if you're looking for a low-cost, well made, reliable, and cheap to shoot pistol I think these CZ's are worth picking up.

Strictly my opinion.

L

11
posted on 09/19/2009 4:52:00 PM PDT
by Lurker
(The avalanche has begun. The pebbles no longer have a vote.)

Used to have a Hungarian PA-63 pistol in 9X18 Mak. Looked like a PPK with an light alloy frame. At the time, 9X18 Makarov was not comon in the US. Surplus hardball ammo was about it. I worked up some handloads and discovered that bore diameter could range from .363 to .367, making a difference in accuracy. The bore on my gun was toward the higher side so I got best results with a Hornaday hollow-point with a .366 diameter. Accuracy was good for a gun of this type and the ballistics were between a .380 and a 9X19. The PA-63 served as a “house gun” for some time, including an incident when the little PA-63 was stuck in my belt when the police arrived. Later, Hornaday marketed a load similar to the one I had worked up. While I’d be partial to a handgun with a bit more “oomph,” you could do a lot worse than one of these Eastern Bloc handguns for home defense.

That's one of the reasons I settled on this C&R purchase. 9X18 is dirt cheap right now, AND it's available.

Heck it's even cheaper than far weaker .380 ammo. So I figured 'why the heck not?'.

Nobody is ever going to win a match with one of these, but that's not why I bought it. These guns are going into the "Oh Crap!" kits we keep in our cars. The gun, a couple spare mags, and two boxes of ammo will set us back less than $350 or so a piece.

You can't beat that with a stick.

Believe me both Mrs L and I own and regularly shoot 'better' guns, but we're not going to toss the Colts, Springfields, or S&W's into the trunk and just leave them there.

While not perfect, I think these things are a pretty good choice for that purpose.

17
posted on 09/19/2009 5:07:02 PM PDT
by Lurker
(The avalanche has begun. The pebbles no longer have a vote.)

Thanks for the review of the CZ-82. I brought a CZ-82 from J&G earlier this year along with a PSL-54C and a Mosin 91/30 and I agree with your review. The CZ-82 is a nice, cheap handgun for someone who is a first time gun buyer as well.

Glad to know that I was not the only one struggling to get the last two bullets into the mag.

I look at it this way. The Czechs were the first ones to revolt against the Soviets and they were killed wholesale before they were subjugated.

And the Czech gun makers were NEVER afraid to tell the Soviets to shove their crappy pistols where the sun doesn't shine.

I could have bought one of those TT33s for just about the same money, but I'm just not partial to that blocky, crappy Soviet school of pistol design. I will readily admit that there are a couple examples of Sgt. Kalishnikovs work in the Lurker compound, though.

If you see one of these CZs in your local gun purveyors shop do take a look at them. They ain't as pretty as the 83, and they're nowhere near as 'tight' as a Kimber, but for the price they're definitely worth a look.

Ammo at $12.50 a box ain't a bad thing, either. Just sayin'....

Best,

L

23
posted on 09/19/2009 5:48:43 PM PDT
by Lurker
(The avalanche has begun. The pebbles no longer have a vote.)

That's a Polish P-64. Close in size to a Walther PPK but slimmer, the double action/single action trigger with decocker makes it a safe CCW pistol. And, it's even cheaper than the CZ-82 - you can find them online for less than $150.00 in good shooting condition.

A couple of caveats about the P-64, though - the recoil is sharp, so you really need to hang on, and the stock DA trigger pull must be something like 20 pounds. :) Fortunately, replacing the recoil and mainsprings with a new set from Wolff is easy and makes the trigger much more manageable.

Nice pistola. J&G has those, but for some reason they're not on the C&R list. Go figure.

One thing I'll give the CZ is that the recoil is not nearly as sharp as I expected from a straight blowback design. It's quite manageable actually. It must be the weight and the fact that the barrel is quite 'low' compared to other designs.

I've heard some really good things about the P-64, though.

Thanks for the info.

Best,

L

27
posted on 09/19/2009 6:27:42 PM PDT
by Lurker
(The avalanche has begun. The pebbles no longer have a vote.)

My eyes over the years have got some crazy astigmatism and I can no longer shoot my handguns with any accuracy except for my Hungarian Makarov that I got when the Russian army was selling off everything they could find to sell. I paid $119 for it. I can still shoot good groups with it at 30 feet for some reason. I don’t try to aim any more, just point and shoot.

Hey, if the PPK was good enough for 007, it’s good enough for me. Have two of ‘em (one Interarms, the other German) — or had. I was out target shooting on a nearby lake and they BOTH fell into 50’ of water. And they were the only guns I owned.

I like the Mosin 91/30, it is a very long, powerful rifle. I only took it to the range twice, but I managed a .75 inch group at 25 yards. With more practice, I am sure I can get an even tighter group and then start shooting out to 100 yards.

Maybe one day, I'll buy an sniper varient of the mosin. I can tell you that you will notice the recoil. Any of the eastern block countries have produced the 7.62x54 for their militaries, so these ammos are easily available online. I brought two cases of czech which is about 1600 rounds total for about $360 from Aim Surplus.com.

You just have to try a box of different manufactorers to see which works best with the particular mosin before buying a case of em.

If you want to learn more about the Mosin rifles or any other military surplus weapons, then I suggest visiting Gunboards.com. You will find the CZ board there as well.

Hey, if the PPK was good enough for 007, it’s good enough for me. Have two of ‘em (one Interarms, the other German) — or had. I was out target shooting on a nearby lake and they BOTH fell into 50’ of water. And they were the only guns I owned.

Paid a “premium” for mine. Got it at Cabela’s. I was able to get one with very little holster wear because of a helpful salesman. I’m saving my 1000 rounds of Silver Bear for any future non supervised opportunities. I use Sellier & Bellot at my range because they are not fond of anything other than brass cases. The funny thing is that it came with a holster marked CZ75 so I got one of those on Friday. Any body have a good 9X19 source.

Do be advised that the Silver Bear stuff is steel case and zinc plated. But mine didn't have any real feed problems other than the ones I noted above.

I have no feed/extraction problems with any ammo. The only pistol I'm more accurate with is my Bersa Thunder .380. It's uncanny. 10 yards and an expanded hole in the 10 ring offhand. The thing that surprised me is that for me, the Thunder was easy to limp wrist offhand.

Back on topic, the only gun more fun to shoot for me than the CZ82 is the CZ 52.

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